


Conviction (bull-headed stubbornness)

by Keepoffthegrass



Category: Bakkhai, Euripides - Fandom, theatre - Fandom
Genre: Almeida Theatre, Ben Whishaw - Freeform, Bertie Carvel, M/M, Other, anne carson version
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 01:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4727231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keepoffthegrass/pseuds/Keepoffthegrass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I saw the 2015 play once last month with no prior knowledge of it...I saw there isn't a fic for this version here (though there probably is on tumblr!) so thought I would do something about that.<br/>Hopefully it won't suck too much.</p>
<p>Basically Dionysus relates what happens when Pentheus believes he has him imprisoned...so possible unreliable narrator.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conviction (bull-headed stubbornness)

**Author's Note:**

> Formatting looks a bit weird? Got a new phone and I don't get on with it!  
> I know a bull wouldn't really have a blanket on, just go with it...

The God of wine, theatre, fertility and harvest et al, in short the God of all the best things, the things that make life both tolerable and worth living, stood with arms outstretched, bare feet planted firmly on the ground yet at the same time dancer-light. A serene and beatific smile graced his face as he raised his head to the sky and called for his followers

"Come to me my lovely ladies, my beautiful Bakkhai!"

A group of madness-touched women came pouring from the wooded hills with whoops and cries.

"What does our lord have to tell us? We attend to your every word. But how is it you are here?, we believed Pentheus to hold you in chains..." The women spoke in unison, their voices like the babbling of a brook

The serene smile slipped from the God's face to be replaced by another that was full of cruel mirth and resembled jagged oil.

"Now that is an amusing tale and one which I have come here to share with you! Let me set the scene..." He arranged himself cross-legged on the woodland floor with his followers settled around him like so many birds.

"As you know I had 'allowed' myself to be captured and brought to the King, who gazed upon my slim manacled wrists with a heavy look full of feeling. After some dull and predictable questions I was taken somewhere else, as befitting such an important prisoner as myself" Dionysus flipped his long hair over one delicate shoulder as he looked at each of the women in turn, testing the raptness' of their attention.

"But this is where my generosity of spirit ran out and I made Pentheus look at a bull and see me in its place!" The God failed to hold back a giggle as he recalled the event and the Bakkhai murmured their approval.

"It really was most hilarious seeing the proud King huff and puff as he tied the poor creature round with rope! It must have been hard work too for he was rather sweaty after, it was quite a good look on him, pity he won't live long enough to wear it more often! But I'm getting ahead of myself and that's a bad habit in a storyteller...So Pentheus has his prize, me, the bull, all tied up. Then what do you suppose he does?"

"Whatever the king's actions they would not change his fate, for short of grovelling at your feet and admitting his mistake, nothing will turn your heart. This stubborn man must pay the price and fall" The women solemnly intoned. 

"A dusty blanket removed from the beast and thus transfigured into my fawn skin, the King placed aside with such reverent care and with a look of such longing that I think there is more than a touch of jealousy to his disgusted, but eager, curiosity of your women's antics'! I confess I half expected him to wrap the cloth about himself, but no, some other time perhaps. He proceeded to devour the bull with his eyes while he cursed and praised my 'moon pale skin, girlish limbs, flushed cheeks and wine stained lips' "

Dionysus paused, a mischievous and triumphant grin curling those lips. "By this point I think it would be fair to say, and not just arrogant, that Pentheus is a bit obsessed with me; carried away with the madness of his lustful musings and the power of believing he had his enemy at his feet and in his control, he sunk to the moral low of rape! The innocent bull was trying to enjoy its dinner and along comes a fool of man who first trusses it up , then to add insult to injury, sexually assaults it!" Dionysus didn't even make an attempt at holding back his hearty chuckles. "And the best bit is that he took the bellows for moans! I shall be sure to inform him of this before the end...come now ladies, story time is over, there is much work to be done!"


End file.
